A part of her wanted to blame her dad for only reaching out when he needed help.
Why couldn’t he just be ready to put the past behind him?
Why did bringing her back have to come with strings attached?
You haven’t exactly made it easy for them, either. Especially after Andrew passed…
But deep down, a part of her had clung to the belief, someday, things would get better. She didn’t think there was a magical fix, but with Jules getting older, it was only a matter of time before Emma was left to her own devices, and she didn’t want to face life by herself.
Having her parents around was exactly what she needed, but she didn’t know how to begin to ask, or if there was still a chance after all these years.
Marley exhaled, and Emma lowered her head to look at her. “Look, I know it must be upsetting to find out that way, but I’m sure they were just trying to protect you. Your parents have been through a lot. Between the foreclosure and your mom’s illness—”
Emma’s ears rang as she held her hand up. “My mom’swhat?”
Marley sat up straighter and ran a hand over her face. “She didn’t tell you?”
Emma tasted bile as she shook her head.
What else had they been keeping from her?
Suddenly, her parents felt like strangers who shared the same DNA.
Why did everyone in town know about their personal business when they’d kept secrets from their own daughter?
Why hadn’t they just reached out to her?
Emma thought she was going to empty the contents of her stomach then and there, and it felt like the ringing in her ears was only growing louder.
Were the walls closing in around her, or was she just imagining things?
“You should probably talk to your mom,” Marley murmured, her eyes darting away and then back again. “I don’t feel comfortable being the one telling you.”
“She won’t tell me anything, and neither will my dad. Marley,please. I need to know.”
Marley swallowed and began to polish her glasses. “I don’t have a lot of details, but I remember that she got sick a few years ago, and no one knew what was wrong. Rumor has it she missed out on a lot of roles because of it, and your dad had to step back from his work for a little while to take care of her.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “It was that serious?”
Marley put her glasses back on and grimaced. “I really don’t know the details. You should talk to your mom. I’m sure if she realized it was coming from a place of concern, she’d feel comfortable telling you.”
Emma nodded, her head still swimming with possibilities.
When Marley got up, she squeezed Emma’s shoulder on her way past.
For the rest of the afternoon, Emma sat in the bean bag in her quiet corner, the words fading in and out of focus and the niggling sensation in the back of her skull compounding. She made herself get up to leave when the sun began to set below the horizon, bathing the world in hues of pink and purple.
During the drive back home, Emma had to pull over a few times because her chest kept tightening.
She couldn’t get enough air into her lungs.
It seemed like she never would again.
The house was empty when she pulled up next to the curb and killed the engine. For a while, she sat there, clenching and unclenching the steering wheel while her heart pounded in her ears. Finally, she forced herself out, and with trembling hands, she took the keys out of her pocket. The front door creaked open, silence rising up to meet her as she wandered through the house.
Emma found herself in the attic before she knew what she was doing.
She sat down on the hardwood floor, and by the light of a single bulb and the silver glow of the moon, Emma rifled through a few of the boxes. Jules’s voice wafted up a short while later, as Emma was flipping through an old photo album, perusing through pictures of herself and her parents over the years. From school recitals to ballet practice and everything in between, all of the pictures showed a happy, normal, and well-adjusted family.
